Contingency Markets and IP

Defenders of IP often ask how creative artists could get paid for their work if anyone were free to copy it. The short answer, of course, is: if imaginative entrepreneurs who stand to make a profit from solving such problems are left free to act, “the market will take care of it.”

As another possibility:
Most webcomic artists who do it professionally or quasi professionally make their money from merchandising.
I would bet that Lucas made more from Star Wars toys than he made from ticket sales.

Interesting. This reminds me a bit of the “ransom” system pioneered by Greg Stolze that I’ve seen used for some indie roleplaying games: An author or designer will propose an idea for a game or supplement, and if people who are interested in the proposal contribute enough to pay the specified “ransom,” the product is released online. There’s a potential problem with free riders, obviously, but apparently results have been promising so far.